How to find funding for your hardware startup while we’re waiting for the hardware revolution
Despite the recent media buzz surrounding the hardware revolution and emerging maker space, the overwhelming majority of hardware startups have a hard time attracting financing today. Hardware requires time, money, and inventory. As a result, most venture capitalists are reluctant to touch hardware projects, opting for the lower costs and smaller risks of software. While […]
Lessons from a founder: how to deal with rejection
Guest post by Mischa Steiner-Jovic, founder and CEO of Awesense Wireless. You can follow him on Twitter. My skin thickens every time I hear a VC say “You’re building what? Why? You’re selling to whom?” or just a flat-out “that’s not a good idea.” Stepping outside the norm often elicits strong reactions and disbelief. Of course, […]
2012 Recap and Final Close at $19M
While crunching the data and reflecting on the past year, it’s clear that 2012 was busy. Version One Ventures made eleven investments, including three angel investments that rolled over into the fund. Here are some of the more interesting details to share about our activity in 2012: Version One invested more than $2.5M in 2012 […]
Mission accomplished: Startup Visa Canada is here
Two years ago, Danny Robinson, Maura Rodgers and myself started to lobby for a Startup Visa Canada that would make it easier for foreign (tech) entrepreneurs to start their company in Canada. The initiative was inspired by the immigration struggles of the talented Summify team. In 2010, Cristian and Mircea arrived in Vancouver from Romania to start a […]
How much capital should you raise?
One of the biggest questions facing any entrepreneur is how much capital to raise for their startup. It’s a delicate question…one that can have a significant impact on the fate of any startup. Raise too much and you’re diluting your ownership; raise too little and your company will have trouble gaining traction or making it […]